Marco Rubio weighs 20-week abortion bill

Sen. Marco Rubio is being asked to introduce legislation that would ban abortion after 20 weeks, an adviser to the Florida Republican confirmed to POLITICO.

“The pro-life groups have asked him to introduce the bill in the Senate,” the adviser said. “He had not made a final decision before leaving on a family vacation earlier this week. I expect an announcement when he gets back to DC next week.”

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The request, first reported in the Weekly Standard, comes as the national spotlight shines on the abortion debate. The House of Representatives successfully passed such a measure last month, though that kind of restriction on abortion is likely to fail in the Senate. That 20-week ban is also part of the controversial Texas abortion bill, which sparked a 13-hour filibuster last week in Austin led by state Sen. Wendy Davis.

The Weekly Standard reported that Rubio, a possible 2016 contender, has agreed to serve as lead sponsor of such a bill; Rubio’s office would not confirm that Wednesday. An advocate of the measure also wouldn’t verify Rubio’s commitment, but did express enthusiasm about a possible sponsorship move from the senator.

“The most I can tell you is we think he’d be a wonderful chief sponsor of the bill,” Douglas Johnson, the legislative director of the National Right to Life Committee, told POLITICO.

That organization has played a central role in crafting legislative language tied to 20-week abortion bans.

Johnson said that Rubio is a champion of the anti-abortion cause, having led the charge on other measures restricting the procedure, and said he hopes to see the Senate move on this issue “in the not-too-distant future.”

“We do expect that the bill is going to be introduced shortly in the Senate,” he said, adding, “I think you’ll see, probably, a consensus emerge where all the pro-life senators are on one bill shortly. But it’s not my place to announce that.”